Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Rose 7.4 Percent from January 2007

Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Rose 7.4 Percent from January 2007

Monday, March
31, 2008 - Trade using surface transportation between the United States and its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners, Canada and Mexico, was 7.4 percent higher in January 2008 than in January 2007, reaching $65.2 billion, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) of the U.S. Department of Transportation (Table 1).

The value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico rose 7.0 percent in January from December (Table 2). Month-to-month changes can be affected by seasonal variations and other factors.

Surface transportation consists largely of freight movements by truck, rail and pipeline. About 90 percent of U.S. trade by value with Canada and Mexico moves on land.

The value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico in January was up 48.9 percent compared to January 2003, and up 89.2 percent compared to January 1998, a period of 10 years (Table 3). Imports in January were up 99.7 percent compared to January 1998, while exports were up 77.2 percent.

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Canada

U.S.-Canada surface transportation trade totaled $42.0 billion in January, up 8.6 percent compared to January 2007 (Table 4). The value of imports carried by truck was 1.7 percent lower in January 2008 than January 2007, while the value of exports carried by truck was 11.0 percent higher.

Michigan led all states in surface trade with Canada in January with $5.3 billion (Table 5).

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Mexico

U.S.-Mexico surface transportation trade totaled $23.1 billion in January, up 5.4 percent compared to January 2007 (Table 6). The value of imports carried by truck was 3.7 percent higher in January 2008 than January 2007 while the value of exports carried by truck was 2.9 percent higher.

Texas led all states in surface trade with Mexico in January with $7.5 billion (Table 7).

The TransBorder Freight Data are a unique subset of official U.S. foreign trade statistics released by the U.S. Census Bureau. New data are tabulated monthly and historical data are not adjusted for inflation. January TransBorder numbers include data received by BTS as of March 11.

The news release and summary tables can be found at www.bts.gov. More information on TransBorder Freight Data and data from previous months are posted on the BTS website at http://www.bts.gov/transborder/. BTS will release February TransBorder numbers on April 30.

Table 1. Value of Monthly U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Canada and Mexico

Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding. Percent changes based on numbers prior to rounding. The value of trade for all surface modes is not equal to the sum of truck, rail and pipeline modes, it also includes shipments made by mail, foreign trade zones, other and unknown modes of transportation. For additional detail refer to the
Data Fields Section of the TransBorder web page: http://www.bts.gov/transborder/TBDR_DataFields.html.

Table 3. January 2008 Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Compared with January of Prior Years

Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding. Percent changes based on numbers prior to rounding. The value of trade for all surface modes is not equal to the sum of truck, rail and pipeline modes, it also includes shipments made by mail, foreign trade zones, other and unknown modes of transportation. For additional detail refer to the
Data Fields Section of the TransBorder web page: http://www.bts.gov/transborder/TBDR_DataFields.html.

Table 5. Top 10 States Trading with Canada by Surface Modes of Transportation

Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding. Percent changes based on numbers prior to rounding. The value of trade for all surface modes is not equal to the sum of truck, rail and pipeline modes, it also includes shipments made by mail, foreign trade zones, other and unknown modes of transportation. For additional detail refer to the
Data Fields Section of the TransBorder web page: http://www.bts.gov/transborder/TBDR_DataFields.html

Table 7. Top 10 States Trading with Mexico by Surface Modes of Transportation